Confetti, acrobatic dancers retrieving the ceremonial ribbon from atop a rock climbing wall and an Eagles cover band: Simon Premium Outlets went all out Thursday to christen its now-open 330,000-square-foot shopping center in Thornton.
Perhaps that’s only appropriate for a shopping center expected to be the biggest sales tax generator — and therefore biggest funder of municipal services — in the north-metro community of more than 137,000.
More than 60 shops and restaurants in the Denver Premium Outlets, 13801 Grant St., welcomed their first guests Thursday morning. Hundreds showed up to be among the first shoppers. Once the paved parking lots near the center filled up, people parked in overflow lots and rode shuttles to the shopping center.
“I like outlet malls,” Northglenn resident Katie Easton said as she waited in a 45-minute line to sign up for the center’s VIP club. “I think it’s cool we will have one closer to us than Castle Rock, which is where I usually go.”
Beyond landing bargains on goods from brands like Coach, Tory Burch and Polo Ralph Lauren, Thornton Mayor Heidi Williams encouraged people to patronize the center for the sake of the civic good.
“You might not know this but retail sales tax is what we depend on in the city to provide you police, fire, infrastructure, roads, all of the above,” Williams said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This is an amazing achievement for the city of Thornton.”
Thornton is home to about 5.1 million square feet of retail space, according to CoStar data. More than 90 percent is occupied. The Home Depot and Walmart-anchored Thornton Town Center, two exits off Interstate 25 south of the Denver Premium Outlets, is the biggest, city retail administrator Julie Jacoby said, but the outlets, situated on more than 90 acres of land, could grow to be larger with a potential second phase.
The Thornton City Council approved a sales tax rebate package for the outlets in 2015, good for up to $25 million. That money is earmarked for paying for roads and other public infrastructure created during construction. The rebate, which kicked in with Thursday’s sales, will sunset in 2040 if Simon doesn’t use all $25 million by then.
When it was first announced, the center was projected to house 80 retailers. That number came down because many tenants sought larger spaces, Simon Premium Outlets CEO Stephen Yalof said. He pointed to that as an indication retailers like Coleman, which shares a 10,000-square-foot space with sister outdoor brands Marmot and ExOfficio, see Thornton as a strong market for them. One of the few spaces not ready for opening day was a large one on the center’s southern end being built out for a yet-to-be announced tenant.
The center, which features a large open main court and a larger-than-100,000-square-foot outdoor children’s play area, will regularly host live music and other events to lure visitors, Yalof said. On Saturday night there will be a concert and fireworks show.
Officials say the center will employee 700 people in full- or part-time capacities now that it’s open.
Some brands had reported having trouble finding workers in Colorado’s drum-tight labor market.
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Leslie Sesow, manager of the Express Factory Outlets store, said she’s aiming to grow her staff from 20 people to 50 by the time the holiday shopping season rolls around.
Jaime Clark shopped in the Express store Thursday. The merchandise there is 40 percent off through Sunday, part of a slate of opening weekend deals.
“I think we’re just super excited to have more shopping options up here,” said Clark, who lives with her family less than a mile away for the center. “Basically, everything up here was so picked over because we didn’t have enough stores and options to support the growth. If you see a shirt you like in Target, you better buy it because it could be gone.”
